1. Field
The present invention relates generally to the field of digital content distribution, and in particular to the identification and tracking of digital content distributors on Wide Area Networks.
2. Related Art
Unauthorized distribution of copyrighted digital content on the Internet and other Wide Area Networks (WANs) is a growing problem. The existing systems and methods aimed at identification of digital content distributors are conducted on an ad hoc basis, for example by manually searching for a file representing a piece of copyrighted content on a file sharing network and making a note of user names and IP addresses of potential distributors advertising the file. The problem with these preexisting approaches is that they are inefficient and not scalable. Accordingly, a need exists for an efficient and automated system for identification and tracking of digital content distributors on WANs.